Of Soccer Balls and Pony Tails
by Transparent Marshmallows
Summary: soccer balls/Amantto/snow/scarf/pony tail/ect.. A series of one-shots for HitsuKarin week 2013.
1. Soccer Ball

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way or form.**

**Warning: This is my first time writing Bleach.. So sorry if the characters are off.**

_Slowly but steadily, the sunlight fell to darkness. _The night sky was almost pitch black, with the exceptions of the small stars that weren't obscured by the annoying rain clouds that had raided the sky for the past week.

"So then, Grandma Haru had-" Hitsugaya was on the riverbank, telling Karin stories of the days back when he was first stationed in the world of the living. Karin was asking questions about his stories, and enjoying every minute of it. Behind them was the soccer field. Earlier in the day, Karin's team won (with the help of Hitsugaya) against a tough opponent. After the game, everyone had managed to go head back to their own houses with their own families. Karin stayed back at the field though. It was Hitsugaya's last day back in the living world. He would soon be going back to Soul Society. There wasn't much time left in the day, but wanted to spent as much time as he could in the living world. For some reason, there was something in his chest telling him to stay longer than Soul Society wanted to, but his rationality debated against it. In 20 minutes- possibly 30 minutes- he would open a Senkaimon and head back. For right now he was going to try to enjoy the time left.

"Ah, shoot. I gotta head home soon." Karin interrupted his talking. She seemed disappointed in telling him that. His stories with Grandma Haru in them were the best. Karin couldn't help but be a little sad. "Yuzu is making a special dinner tonight. My old man's gonna be angry if I miss it." Hitsugaya gave a nod in understandment. "Toshiro, before I leave, I have something to give you." He glanced at her with some question in his eyes.

"Karin, I'm not sure if-" Once again he was cut off by the voice of Karin Kurosaki.

"Nonsense! You always help the team with winning, this is the least I could do." A determined Karin was a Karin you did not want to mess with. She opened the red sack that she always put her soccer ball in. Karin took the soccer ball out. It wasn't in the best condition since it had just been kicked around by many people. "Here, you can have it." A few sweat drops formed on Hitsugaya's face. She was giving him the soccer ball that she treasured so much.

"W-Why are you giving me this?!" He handed the soccer ball back.

"Because, you're really good at soccer. If you had a soccer ball to practice with, imagine how good you'd become!" There was a bright look in her eyes. Although he knew he shouldn't argue with her when she was in her stubborn, determined mode she was in then. Still, he couldn't just take the soccer ball, even if she was directly giving it to him. Her voice was going on, but he paid attention to something Karin was saying. "Besides, I got a new soccer ball for Christmas, so it wouldn't be like you're taking my one any only ball. And-"

How long had she been going on? Five minutes? Hitsugaya sighed. "Fine, I'll take it." Karin looked at him with a hopeful smile.

"Really?!"

"Yes, thanks Karin." Her smile didn't fade away anytime soon. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her shorts.

"Well, I have to go now," she took the empty red bag. "Make sure to practice!" Hitsugaya stood up as well.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Hitsugaya asked. He only had a few minutes until he would return to Urahara's, return the gigai, and then go back to Soul Society. It was a long shot that he would make it back in time if he walked her home.

"Nah, thanks for the offer. You have to get to Soul Society, right?" He nodded. Within a few seconds she was half-way across the soccer field, waving goodbye. He waved back, picked up the soccer ball, and made his way back to Urahara's.

"Captain Hitsugaya, is that a soccer ball with you?" Hitsugaya stopped abruptly. He had put the soccer down right when he had entered the shop, but as he was done with everything he picked it back up. Those kids and the cat weren't anywhere to be found then, so he trusted to put it down for a few minutes. There were only a few minutes left until he would open the Senkaimon. What a bother Urahara was with his questions.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any use in lying. Urahara had already seen the soccer ball, and it would be dumb to tell him otherwise. Hitsugaya gave a sharp nod. Don't use violence, he thought. Control your anger. The time was ticking away. There wasn't any point in staying in the world of the living anytime longer. Urahara didn't necessarily agree though. The shady shop owner had his dark green fan over his mouth so no one could see his sly smile behind the fan. Hitsugaya's voice interrupted Urahara's train of thoughts. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have to go back to Sou-"

"Ara," More irritation. "Does this soccer ball have to do with Kurosaki-san's little sister." How did he know of Karin? Albeit, she was Ichigo's sister, but the relationship between Hitsugaya and Karin was something Urahara shouldn't have known about. A slight blush made way onto Hitsugaya's face.

"That-" Started the young captain as he picked up the beloved soccer ball, "Is none of your business." He walked out, a little angry, ready to open the Senkaimon.

Behind the fan a smile was apparent on Urahara's face. "Ah, young love."

Masumoto Rangiku was miserable. There were several reasons why, but the most prominent reason was clear to everyone in Squad 13. Her captain had been in the living world for a few days and she, the poor lieutenant, had to deal with the nasty paper work. Of course she had assigned some (most)of it to the lower seats, but if Hitsugaya found out she would be in trouble. A moan of distaste came out of her mouth. _There's no way I'll get all the paperwork done before this, _Rangiku thought. How many stacks were there? Five? Suddenly the door opened. She was right, she wouldn't get the paperwork done before her captain came back.

"Masumoto!" Hitsugaya instantly showed how angry he was as he looked at the large stack of paperwork.

"Ah, Captain, you're back from your trip! How was the world of the living?"

_She's trying to get off topic_, Hitsugaya thought. "Masumoto, I see wha-" He was interrupted by her enthusiastic voice.

"Did you have fun? How was Kurosaki-kun's sister?" Another slight blush formed on his face. Nearly everyone seemed to know about Karin.

"She is..doing well." The sooner he answered her question, the sooner he could get back to work. Masumoto chuckled at his response.

"I see. Good luck with that," Masumoto laughed more, resulting in another Hitsugaya blush. Rangiku started to head out of the office, leaving Hitsugaya alone with the paperwork. The blush on his face went away from the anger he felt.

"Masumoto! Get back here!" The next few days were be filled with paperwork.

He needed fresh air.

For three days he had been locked up in his office. Three days. Hitsugaya was used to spending days in the office, but Rangiku had been more irritable that usual. Once he was done with the paperwork, he immediately went into his private room, got the soccer ball, went outside, and then practiced. Hitsugaya could see why Karin liked soccer. It got out anger and frustration. Perhaps he would practice more often.

_Thank you for the soccer ball, Karin._

Needless to say, the next time he played soccer with Karin, she was impressed.


	2. Amenttos

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

_All was going well in the world of the living on Saturday afternoon. _Karin didn't have any soccer games that day, she was all caught up on homework, and Hitsugaya had come to visit for a few days. They had decided to visit Grandma Haru, which had become a routine whenever Hitsugaya visited.

Grandma Haru slid the door open for them as they took their shoes off. "Thanks, Grandma Haru," said Karin as she walked in. Hitsugaya and Karin then settled down in their regular spot that overlooked the garden. It was slowly becoming fall: the trees were almost bare, frost covered the ground, and the sky was starting to become home to many clouds. After a few minutes of waiting for Grandma Haru to come out of the kitchen #where she had gone right after she let them in#, Grandma Haru had finally come out. She had a sad look on her wrinkled face.

"Oh, I'm sorry Toshiro. I'm out of Amenttos." Toshiro Hitsugata tried to hide his disappointment. Grandma Haru had a sad enough face on, he didn't need to make it worse. He had a convincing poker face, but it didn't make the situation less terrible than it was. Grandma Haru was without Amenttos. The wonderful Saturday had come to an end.

Amenttos at Grandma Haru's house had become a tradition. Last time Karin even tried them. It didn't quite seem the same without the candied beans.

"I-It's alright, Grandma." He managed to sputter out. He didn't want to make Grandma Haru feel it was her fault; it was his for eating all of the beans. "So, tell me how your day went." He was trying to make it seem like Grandma Haru's house without Amenttos wasn't an abnormal experience at all. It was a really hard thing to do for him, but he would just have to survive.

Survival was a very hard thing to do. He started to have a scowl on his face, with his eye twitching. Although Grandma Haru didn't notice, Karin did. "Toshiro, you're starting to look like Ichi-nii." Hitsugaya's scowl was immediately gone. No way was he going to turn into Kurosaki.

He felt bad that just without Amenttos, it seemed he was losing his sanity. Honestly, was it an addiction? Was he so used to Amenttos that he couldn't survive at Grandma Haru's without them? No, he had to be strong and get used to live without Amenttos, no matter how terrible that sounded. Grandma Haru was so nice to him, and vice versa. He couldn't get something so trivial as Amenttos in the way of their relationship.

The day went past and Hitsugaya realized how terribly bad it was without Amenttos at Grandma Haru's house.

After making fun of his obsession with Amenttos for a while, Karin suggested something useful.

"Hey, let's go to the store." Hitsugaya gave her a look of question but didn't object. "It would be nice if we got some Amenttos so Grandma Haru wouldn't have to. I already have to pick up some things from the store anyway." She started to head towards the grocery store, picking her pace to jogging. "I want get home before it gets dark. You coming along or what?"

Hitsugaya nodded. "B-but only for the Amenttos." After saying it aloud he repeated it in his head many times. It's only for the Amenttos, he thought. But something inside his head told himself that it wasn't just for the Amenttos.

They jogged off far into the distance. Old couples would smile at the pair, thinking back to the days when they were just like the joggers. Boys from Karin's school wondered who was that white-haired kid with one of the Kurosaki sisters. Other people didn't pay attention whatsoever. After five minutes, they had made it to the grocery store. The sun hadn't yet set.

"Here we are!"

It wasn't until then that Hitsugaya realized that grocery stores in the human world were so big.

"H-how are we going to find everything needed?" Sweat drops made their way onto Hitsugaya's face.

"It's alright, I've been here lots of times. Let's see what we need first.." Her eyes looked down at the list she had. "Fish, chocolate, and oranges." Hitsugaya just nodded, not even wanting to question what Yuzu was going to make.

Lesson one that he learned at the store: don't get lost. Many times Karin had already moved to another section to get the next item on the list. He had got lost in the little boy section two times already. A store employee would ask where his mother was, and Hitsugaya would reply back that he was of high school age #unfortunately he couldn't tell his real age, or then the employee would feel really foolish#. Once he would get back to Karin, he would stay close to her, but she didn't say anything about it.

Finally, after much time spent getting everything Karin needed for Yuzu, they made their way to the section where everything was canned. There was a fair amount of old people, but Karin didn't say anything. She was tired and wanted to head back to her house. It was going to get dark soon, and she didn't like walking around late at night. Karin walked her way to the Amantto section and there it was: an utopia Hitsuaya had always dreamt of.

Cans of Amanttos were everywhere. Up and down, left and right. The best part was, they were so cheap! He would have to come to the human world more often. Soul Society didn't even have Amanttos! This was paradise, honestly. He would have to tell everyone in Soul Society about how amazing the world of the living was.

"Hmm.. How many cans do you think we should get?" Karin's voice took Hitsugaya out of his fantasies.

It was so hard for Hitsugaya to choose. He had to put himself in Grandma Haru's mind for a second. She probably went to the store once a month. If she got a can for every week of the month, that would come out to about four cans.. "We should get four.. So she won't have to get Amanttos for a while.."

Karin agreed with a nod. "Yeah! That's a good idea, Toshiro." She grabbed four cans and put them in the cart. "Let's go, it's not dark yet."

They checked out the items and the person that mistook Hitsugaya for an elementary student apologized.

"Sorry dude. Didn't know you were on a date." Karin corrected the man and headed out.

"Grandma Haru, we're here again." The old woman opened the door for the pair and smiled.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you two today."

"We bought some Amenttos at the store yesterday." Karin handed the grocery bag to Grandma Haru. "There are four cans in there.."

The old woman smiled once again. "Thank you. Now, come on in and sit down."

Grandma Haru had candied beans once again. The world of the living was at peace.


End file.
